MARIO + RABBIDS: KINGDOM BATTLE
Today, let's cover one of the surprise hits of the Switch's library, an unlikely crossover between the Mario series and Ubisoft's Rabbids that surprisingly worked really well. I find myself in a bit of a tricky spot with this one, as, unlike other crossovers where the playstyle either didn't matter to any character involved, or was basically just that other series's playstyle, this game has its own playstyle and mechanics completely unique to both parties, one that I'd very much like to see represented. Let's see what we can do.
We have eight playable characters here: Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Yoshi, alongside Rabbids that got merged with a Mario fan's posters of the characters to become Rabbid Mario, Rabbid Luigi, Rabbid Peach, and Rabbid Yoshi (basically they're just dressed up in costumes of the characters). We also have Beep-O, a small Roomba-like device that acts as the controller during non-action parts of the game. During action segments, these characters work as a team, with more or less the same moveset (just kinda personalized to each). Mario has a projectile gun and a hammer, Peach has a projectile and grenade, Luigi has a projectile (the Poltergust) and a sentry he can send out, Yoshi has a projectile and an area attack, Rabbid Mario has a projectile and hammer like Mario, Rabbid Peach has a projectile and shield and also acts as the healer, Rabbid Luigi has a projectile that causes random side effects and an area attack, and Rabbid Yoshi also has a projectile and a grenade. All of these characters can also perform the team jump to bounce off of each other and get to higher places, and can use warp points to move around as well.
Outside of that, Toad and Toadette play supporting roles, and Spawny, a rabbid combined with the device that did all the combining in the first place, plays the role of damsel in distress. A talking sunflower spits up treasure chests, and random rabbids play around in the background. Finally, we have an unnamed inventor appearing at the beginning of the story, whose room gets wrecked and her life's work shot off to another dimension (and we never see it fixed, by the way).
On the enemy side, we mostly see a number of enemies made up of corrupted rabbids. There are different types, but mainly sorted in specific groups that then just have variation across the different levels. These include: Ziggies, the basic gunner enemies; Hoppers with springs on their legs; Smashers that carry around big blocks to smash you with; Supporters that heal and throw bombs; Bucklers that carry shields; Peek-a-Boos that can teleport; and Valkyries that can fire multiple rounds and ground pound.
Each level also has a boss and a midboss. The midbosses include a Piranha Plant-rabbid hybrid, a pair of sand and ice-themed rabbids, a Day of the Dead-themed rabbid named Calavera, a Wario and Waluigi rabbid, and Bowser Jr. piloting a hammer-swinging mech. The full bosses included Rabbid Kong, a temperamental monkey that doesn't do much in this boss fight, but who we'll come back to; an Icicle Golem that freezes you and wields a shield; a glorious opera-singing Phantom that throws energy balls and becomes invincible for a short time; a Lava Queen that mostly attacks with lava; and then a fusion between a lava dragon and Bowser that flies, breathes fire, butt bashes, spits meteors, and uses a shield.
We only have four main stages here, those being: Ancient Gardens, a standard Mario level that steadily changes into a towering precipice of junk; Sherbet Desert, a fusion between a desert and a snow level; Spooky Trails, a haunted level; and Lava Pit, your standard Bowser level.
Now, we have one more thing to talk about. The game received an expanded story DLC, entirely revolving around Rabbid Kong causing trouble out of jealousy and transporting himself, Rabbid Peach, and Beep-O to Donkey Kong's world, where Rabbid Peach then teams up with Donkey Kong and a Rabbid form of Cranky. Donkey and Rabbid Cranky take up the other party members' roles, and we get a new level called Tropical Island. Rabbid Kong gets an expanded boss role, making shockwaves, punching, using a banana axe by spinning it, throwing the banana as a boomerang, and spinning it like a helicopter.
I think that's about it! Here's what we've got:
Characters:
Mario: hammer, bombs, drop drum, golden hammer, pink (enemy), blue (block), yellow (metal plate), green (brick), Kanbank, throw Koopa shells, chisel, pinball, dance
Builder Mario: item blocks, arrow signs, brick blocks, rotating blocks, bridges, burners, cannons, cloud blocks, coins, conveyor belts, donut blocks, fire bars, grinders, hidden blocks, ice blocks, lifts, mushroom platforms, note blocks, one-way walls, P switches, pipes, POW blocks, spike traps, tracks, trampolines, vines, warp doors, 1-Up Mushrooms, Fire Flowers, Super Leaves, Cape Feathers, Propeller Mushrooms, Super Mushrooms, Weird Mushrooms, Super Stars, Clown Car, Buzzy Beetle and Spiny Shells, Big Mushrooms, Mystery Mushrooms, Master Sword, Superball Flowers, Super Bell, Super Hammer, SMB2 Mushroom, Frog Suit, Super Acorn, Boomerang Flower, Rotten Mushroom, Cannon Box, Propeller Box, Goomba Mask, Bullet Bill Mask, reset rocket, companion characters
Luigi: same, dance
Princess Peach
Bowser, dance
Beep-O/Rabbid Mario/Luigi/Peach/Yoshi: team jump, projectile, melee, grenaduck, area attack, sentry, heal, shield
Foreman Spike: push, best option for a gimmick character, see all above
Wario: chisel, dance
Toad
Yoshi
Donkey Kong
Daisy
Waluigi: dance, steal music keys
Birdo
Diddy Kong
Toadette
Toadsworth
Bowser Jr.
Petey Piranha
Rabbid Kong: shockwave, punch, spin Banana club, throw banana boomerang, helicopter spin
Koopa Troopa
Goomba
Shy Guy
Boo
Cheep Cheep
Bob-Omb
Lakitu
Pokey
Chain Chomp
Monty Mole
Ukiki
Ziggy/Rabbid Enemies: gun, springs, machine gun, block, shield, teleport, heal, bombs, ground pound
Eggplant Man: run around
Gotchawrench: run around
Slime
Platypunk
Bianca
Angelo
Jessica
Alena
Kiryl
Carver
Pudding/Princessa
Yangus
Dragonlord
Stella
Patty
Onigiri
Onnanoko
Oyazi
Dogu
Tutankoopa: float, spell
Stages:
Wrecking Crew
High Rise Building
Mario Paint
Clash House Tower
Fun Fair
Frosty Frontier
Grassy Greens
Shifting Sands
Fiery Stage
Truffle Towers
SS Brass
Corkscrew Hotel
Wario Carnival
Snowy Peak
Bowser's Castle
Yoshi's Island
Bowser's Castle
Mario Stadium
Mario Circuit
Peach's Castle
Delfino Plaza
Mushroom Kingdom
Castle Trodain
Mt. Magmageddon
Colossus
Ghost Ship
Slimenia
Alefgard
Robbin' Hood Ruins
Starship Mario
Good Egg Galaxy
Observatory
Alltrades Abbey
Mario Maker (I like the way Smash did it)
Mario Maker 2
Puzzles & Dragons
Super Mario Run
Ancient Gardens
Sherbet Desert
Spooky Trails
Lava Pit
Tropical Island
Items:
Hammers
Bombs
Drums
Blocks
Shells
Mahjong Tiles
Pinball Machine
Music Keys
1-Up Mushrooms
Fire Flowers
Super Leaves
Cape Feathers
Propeller Mushrooms
Super Mushrooms
Weird Mushrooms
Super Stars
Clown Car
Buzzy Beetle and Spiny Shells
Big Mushrooms
Mystery Mushrooms
Master Sword
Superball Flowers
Super Bell
Super Hammer
SMB2 Mushroom
Frog Suit
Super Acorn
Boomerang Flower
Rotten Mushroom
Cannon Box
Propeller Box
Goomba Mask
Bullet Bill Mask
Thanks for reading! Next up, let's finish this hodge-podge with Super Mario Bros. 35!
